Creating opportunity through relationships, trust and community.
Some opportunities are carefully mapped out. Others arrive quietly, through conversations, shared experiences and the people we happen to meet along the way. For Jenny Matthews, one such opportunity began with a simple invitation from Jackie Hyde to join the She Inspires Awards judging panel.
An experienced business coach and passionate advocate for women in enterprise, Jenny joined a panel of professionals from business, education and the wider community, each bringing their own expertise to recognise and celebrate women who were making a difference. It was an opportunity to contribute her experience, meet fellow professionals and become part of a community committed to championing women’s success.
What nobody could have predicted was how one invitation would create a series of opportunities that continues to unfold today.
Among the judges was Martyn Shaw, then Director of the Business School at the University of Bolton. Martyn invited his colleague, Jane Stuart-Putman, to experience the judging process and be part of the panel. During the day, Jane and Jenny realised they had met many years earlier. What had started as a chance encounter soon became the rekindling of a professional relationship built on mutual respect, shared values and a passion for helping others succeed.
As the judging concluded, conversations continued over dinner. Away from the scorecards and interviews, people had the opportunity to talk more freely about their work, their aspirations and the projects that mattered to them. Those conversations proved invaluable.
Recognising Jenny’s extensive experience in enterprise, coaching and business development, Jane invited her to deliver workshops and training sessions for female students at the University of Bolton. It was the beginning of a relationship that enabled Jenny to share her knowledge with aspiring entrepreneurs and future business leaders, helping young women develop the confidence, skills and mindset needed to succeed.
Those opportunities, in turn, led to new relationships. Through her work with the University, Jenny met academics, business leaders and professionals, including Lisa Rees O’Donnell. As careers evolved and new roles emerged, so too did new possibilities. Relationships that began through one introduction continued to open doors in ways that no one could have anticipated.
At the same time, Jenny’s own journey within the She Inspires community continued to grow. She became the business mentor for recipients of the Stacey’s Stepping Stone Award, working alongside women who were taking their first steps in business or growing enterprises with the potential to create lasting social and economic impact. Over the course of a year, Jenny supports each recipient through the challenges, decisions and opportunities that come with entrepreneurship. She celebrates their successes, helps them navigate setbacks and encourages them to believe in their own potential, often long before they fully recognise it themselves.
What began as mentoring has become something much deeper.
Over the years, Jenny has built lasting relationships with many of the women she has supported. She has watched businesses grow from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms into thriving enterprises. She has seen ideas become organisations, confidence become leadership and ambition become reality. Those women remain part of the She Inspires community, and the relationships continue long after the formal mentoring has ended.
Looking back, it is remarkable how much has grown from one invitation.
There was no business development plan.
No networking strategy.
No expectation that joining a judging panel would lead to university partnerships, long-term collaborations, mentoring relationships and an ever-growing network of trusted connections.
It happened because people came together with a shared purpose, took the time to build genuine relationships and recognised value in one another.
Women’s Economic Agency in Action
Jenny’s story reminds us that Women’s Economic Agency is built not only through funding or formal programmes, but through the relationships that enable opportunities to grow. Every conversation has the potential to become a collaboration. Every introduction can become a partnership. Every act of mentoring creates knowledge, confidence and trust that continues to ripple through a community. When women connect with one another, share their expertise and champion each other’s success, opportunities multiply in ways that cannot be planned or measured.
The She Inspires community has become exactly that kind of ecosystem. It brings together entrepreneurs, academics, business leaders, mentors, judges, sponsors and changemakers who believe that success is something to be shared rather than guarded. Through those relationships, new businesses are launched, careers evolve, partnerships are formed and women find the confidence to pursue opportunities they may never have imagined possible.
Jenny’s journey demonstrates that sometimes the greatest opportunity is not the one you were looking for. It is the one that finds you because you chose to be part of a community built on trust, generosity and a shared belief in the potential of others.
That is Women’s Economic Agency in Action.
